Monday, January 26, 2009

The greatest thing in the whole wide world

Although every woman has the potential to be a mother, Motherhood is the most unique experience in the world. With a baby comes extremes in every area: alertness and sleepiness, happiness and sadness, joy and pain (excruciating pain), ups and downs. But at the end of every day most mothers would say that not only is it all worth it, being a mother is the greatest thing and they wouldn't trade it for anything. I'm one of those moms. Lately I have been experiencing the extremes in several of those areas, especially the sleepiness and alertness ones--but mostly just sleepy. Caleb has a bad cold and I guess it got worse yesterday because he fell asleep at 7:30 and Kiel and I went to bed at 10:30. Caleb has been doing really good with sleeping during the night lately but last night he started crying at 11:45. So I went in and fed him and he fell back asleep but woke up again 2 hours later. It is always so much harder to get up the second time for some reason! So I was grumbling and moaning as I went in to see what was wrong and I pulled him out of bed and took him in to sleep in our bed. His nose was so clogged though that he was breathing out of his mouth and it was giving him a sore throat I'm sure. To make a long night short, he didn't sleep at all. At about 3:30 I got up and changed his diaper and fed him again but he was wide awake! And I wanted to die! I was sooo exhausted. So I pulled out some of his books and rocked and read to him for a little while. And as I was reading to him he kept trying to flip the pages with his chubby hands and I just felt so grateful right then that I had such a cute little baby that I could read stories to in the middle of the night. I was still so tired but I can honestly say I was happier rocking my baby and reading to him than I would have been sound asleep in my bed. His chubby little hands and smile as if nothing were wrong or out of the ordinary made that very long night so worth it. However, I am glad to say that a little while later Kiel came and took a turn with him. Now that I've gone about 36 hrs with very minimal sleep (yes my eyes are stinging as I'm blinking at this fuzzy screen) I can still say that I love my sweet baby more than ever and there is NOTHING I would rather be doing with my life right now than being his mommy. There is just something so sweet and helpless and heavenly about a baby that is completely not of this world and I am so blessed that I get to feel that in my home and in my life everyday.

4 comments:

Anonymous said...

What a beautiful post Gretchen. I loved the visual of his chubby hands. Caleb is just so cute! We need to have a girls night soon and go see Bride Wars. I am planning on making a family home evening lesson this sunday! Make sure you bring your book and we will get started! I want to laminate mine after so they stay nice and durable. Is laminating expensive?? Cause we are in the poor house this month. =)

Amy Legler said...

You are the most wonderful, loving mother Gretch! Caleb is so lucky to have you as his mother. Being a mother is so rewarding isn't it!!

Kevin and Missa said...

You are amazing and such a good mom.... I cant believe how positive you are!!

JeNnA said...

Oh gretchen I wish that I could be your neighbor so that I can watch caleb and you can take a nap. but very nice post and very true! Pur poor little angles don't know how to deal with sickness. I am so glad that you are the patient loving mom that you are. Caleb IS blessed! love you!!